Excellent article on how the coffee farms are inspected to really know if they use chemicals or not.
I had been doing this website for Janet Blakeley for over a year now, and decided that I really didn't understand what organic coffee farming was all about. I had typed words like: "Skal Certified", "Sustainable", and "Shade Grown" ad nauseum and really wasn't sure what it all meant.So Janet told me that I could tag along with her on one of her inspection days to find out for myself. "Great!", I said, "what do you inspect?" (I think I would have been better served to just go along without displaying the depth of my ignorance.) "We inspect the farms", she answered. "Well, what do you inspect them for?", I asked, (eliminating all doubt). "We have to make sure that the farms are indeed organic", she patiently answered. I decided to stop with the questions and just see for myself what goes on during these inspections. I learned a lot that day, not the least of which was that I was glad I hadn't promised to visit EVERY farm. I found out that Janet inspects 69 farms in 4 allied projects around that high altitude volcanic region. And they inspect them once a month!
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